How to Make an Altered Book Victorian-style Christmas Ornament - Free Template

This is definitely a project for older kids or adults, because the Xacto knife
blade will be very sharp. Younger kid’s might enjoy helping to
decorate with glitter and paint after the ornament if fully constructed.

2. Remove the outer cover from the book. The easiest
way to do this is to bend both sides of the cover back and rip in a
single motion. It should come off fairly easily. Carefully trim off
any cover pieces that remain with the Xacto knife.

3. Bend the spine in several different places — be
especially thorough on this step if the book that you are using hasn’t
been read very much. You are preparing the spine to be bent completely
backwards so this step is important!

4. Lay the paperback book down (on a surface that is
safe to cut on), front facing up and lay the template on top with the
flat side pushed directly against the spine-side of the page.

5. Using your Xacto knife,
begin carefully cutting around the template. Be careful only to cut a
few pages at a time. Pull the pages away from the book when you have
completely cut through them.

6. Repeat the step above until you have cut through all of the pages of the book.

7. Fan the pages of the book out to bend the spine one
last time, bending all the way back to the point that they meet one
another behind the spine.

8. Fold the ribbon in half, creating a large loop.

9. Place a thin line of glue along the spine of the
book. Lie the ribbon along the line of glue, leaving enough of the top
of the loop out to hang the ornament by.

10. Knot the ribbon at the very bottom of the spine of the book.

11. Bend the pages of the book back until the two back pages meet each other.

12. Glue these pages together and place clamps along the edge of the pages to hold it together while it dries.